A Discourse On The Pitfalls Of Spirituality
Note: This post is written by Lasse Felsted Petersen of Towards Peace, you can read more about Lasse here.
What does it mean to be a spiritual person? Which pitfalls are connected to “being on the spiritual path?” Do we often trick ourselves into believing that we have attained something?
This is my first contribution to the article database on “The Happiness Café”, and I am very excited about this project. For me, it seems obvious to write about the pitfalls of spirituality before I share any of my actual insights, because without the right principles to apply knowledge it can easily distort you from reality, instead of connecting you to it.
Applying spirituality to your everyday life
In short, spirituality invites us to examine the relationship with oneself and to become self-conscious about ourselves and others. We have the possibility to awaken to the truth in every moment throughout the day, but seldom do we wake up from our daydreaming state.
Spirituality is about waking up to the realization that all is one, or that “this is it” as they boldly proclaim in Zen philosophy.
Spirituality today is a jungle through which it is hard to find our way. What is “correct” and what is “overrated” and why are some teachings better than others, when they all in fact lead to the same goal?
When the seeker starts his journey towards himself, the Truth, God, Brahman or whatever you would like to call it, it is like a whole new world opens up before him. We feel like we gain a deeper insight into things, we start to become wiser people and as soon as we have grasped the principles behind life we try to apply them, but the practical world differs a lot from the theory and lectures the seeker listened to and read about. He knows the theory, but is still governed by his habitual patterns throughout his day. So the seeker starts to become frustrated because his ability to apply the knowledge is insufficient.
The ego-battle
His first and foremost challenge is the battle with his own mind or ego, as it is called in some spiritual lineages. This is the hardest battle of them all, because it forces the seeker or spiritual person to confront the dark sides of himself. It makes him search the darkest corners of his mind in search of some idealised and conceptual truth which is created by the mind he so desperately is trying to rid himself of, which is the paradox of the search. It is like trying to get rid of ones own shadow.
This is the first pitfall of the seeker, to realize that he cannot battle his mind. He needs to turn it into an ally and a friend, and use his delusional mind as a tool to attain liberation.
Creating distance to others
“Compassion automatically invites you to relate with people because you no longer regard people as a drain on your energy.”
- Chogyam Trungpa
Now when the seeker starts to realize that he cannot battle his own mind, he finds himself confronted with an even greater problem: distance. What is meant by this? When we enter the spiritual world, we tend to dig trenches and wage war with the rest of the none-spiritual world around us. We get angry at non-spiritual people because they simply can’t understand and see the underlying principles that we have acquired through strenuous studies.
So in our work to unify ourselves and get in connection with our true selves, we tend to create distance to other people because we start to think that we are better than other people. So by changing our belief system to a “spiritual one”, we create distance to other people.
That is especially a pitfall in many of the modern new-age spiritual lineages. This is less common in Asian (Buddhist, Taoist, Shamanism) and western mystical traditions, as they have been around for so long that they know that one of the most important things on the path to realisation or God is humility and respect for others.
Simple rules of spirituality
If you wish to dive into the world of spirituality there are some simple guidelines to follow:
Don’t agree - find out
A genuine and child-like curiosity mixed with a portion of scepticism, which can be shortened down to a famous saying by Krishnamurti:
“Don’t agree, find out”
This is my truth
One of the most ridiculous sentences I have heard is “this is the truth for me”. I tend to turn it upside down and say ‘This is my delusion’. Because if it were your truth, then why do you seek to discuss it with others? Always question someone who says he or she has found the truth. In Daoism/Taoism the first stanza in TaoTeChing is “The Tao that can be named is not the real Tao”, which means that truth is something greater than words, so when you try to explain it to someone, you discover that you are back in Plato’s cave.
Humility towards others
As mentioned above, don’t be too cocky about your beliefs. All people we encounter are there to challenge our beliefs, and to give us a reason to lose ourselves, to awaken to the truth.
If it is too complicated, don’t waste your time
This is probably one of the most important rules at all, spirituality is not a complex entity, it is as simple as it gets, as I wrote before “this is it”, it reminds me of an old Zen story where a student asks the master “from where do I enter the path of Zen”, the master said “do you hear the mountain stream below us?” The student answered “yes I do” the master then said “perfect, that is your way in”. It isn’t so complex as we try to make it, the mind loves complexity, so every time it gets too complex do yourself a favour and stop, and return to the roots, sit quietly on your pillow and listen, then you will enter the way through the mountain stream like the pupil eventually did.
Now I have outlined the rules I use to apply, I hope it will bring some more understanding to your seeking of the Truth.
“You need not aspire for or get any new state.
Get rid of your present thoughts, that is all.”
- Ramana Maharshi
Haha… sounds awesome what you’re writing. I’ve realized those things more or less myself and stopped taking me or my beliefs that serious… actually I often can’t stop laughing about myself and those thoughts I have
Thanks for your contribution to the website Phil. I look forward to meeting you in December and hear more about your thoughts upon spirituality and your travels.